Israeli jailers release Gazan woman

The Israeli prison authority on Monday evening released female prisoner Sanaa al-Hafi at Beit Hanoun (Erez) border crossing with the Gaza Strip after she spent 20 months in jail.

The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) reporter in Gaza said that several relatives and citizens received Hafi on the Palestinian side of the crossing. Hafi, 44, was arrested on May 26, 2015 as she was en route to Gaza after a visit to relatives in Ramallah city. She was accused then by the Shin Bet of transferring money to an illegal group. In another development, the Israeli military court in Ofer on Monday decided to give female prisoner Randa al-Shahatit, from Dura town in al-Khalil, a conditional release soon and make her pay 5,000 shekels in bail. According to the Palestinian Prisoner Society, the court ordered Shahatit not to leave her town or participate in any activities, and to go to Kiryat Araba police station every Thursday to sign a presence sheet.

Israeli soldiers kidnapped Shahatit in early August at a makeshift checkpoint as she was going to a hospital in Bethlehem. Shahatit, a mother of three children, had been detained four times before and released as part of the 2011 prisoner swap deal in Gaza. The Shin Bet has sought to rejail her in order to make her complete a previous prison term.